METHODS, SYSTEMS AND PROCESSOR-READABLE MEDIA FOR TRACKING HISTORY DATA UTILIZING VEHICLE AND FACIAL INFORMATION

• US 20130243260A1
• Filed: 03/15/2012
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Burry, Aaron Michael, Paul, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 9,008,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a customer history data utilizing a combination of vehicle and facial information. A license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle can be captured and information with respect to the license plate obtained. The license plate information can be employed as an unique customer identifier with respect to customer history data, if the customer places an order (e.g., drive-through service). Facial images of the customer upon entry to a store and/or upon checkout can be captured and processed. The checkout image can be matched against a set of images in order to associate customer order information with customer history data identified from the license plate information for tracking an in-store order transaction.

Claims

1. A method for tracking customer history data, said method comprising:

capturing a license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle and a facial image with respect to a customer in order to obtain license plate information and facial information; and

applying said license plate information in association with said facial information as a unique customer identifier with respect to a customer history data stored in a database, if said customer places an order through at least one transaction approach.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein capturing a license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle and a facial image with respect to a customer in order to obtain license plate information and facial information, further comprises:

capturing said license plate image with respect to said customer vehicle and said facial image with respect to said customer utilizing an image-capturing unit.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one transaction approach comprises a drive-through service.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one transaction approach comprises an in-store order transaction.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

performing a license plate recognition operation as said customer vehicle enters a lot in order to thereafter generate said unique customer identifier based on said license plate information.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

placing an order by said customer; and

associating order information with said customer history data identified from said license plate information.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

tracking said customer from said customer vehicle to a store entry in order to thereafter obtain a facial image of said customer upon entry to said store; and

associating said facial image with said unique customer identifier and adding said facial image to a queue of said customer waiting to place an order.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

acquiring an image of said customer before said customer places said order if said customer is approaching a cash register and matching said facial image against said facial image of said customer at entry;

associating said order information with said customer history data identified from said license plate information and removing said facial image of said customer at entry from a queue if a high confidence match is found; and

purging said facial image of said customer at entry from a queue that is older than a time period and storing said order information and said facial image for manual review if a high confidence match is not found.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining said facial image at entry and said facial image at checkout on a similar day with a similar lighting and attire and a forward facing pose.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising tuning a parameter of said facial recognition to bias towards a lower yield and a high accuracy result.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing said license plate image utilizing a license plate recognition technology.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing said facial image utilizing a facial recognition technology.

13. A system for tracking customer history data, said system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to said processor; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said data bus, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said processor and configured for;

capturing a license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle and a facial image with respect to a customer in order to obtain license plate information and facial information; and

applying said license plate information in association with said facial information as a unique customer identifier with respect to a customer history data stored in a database, if said customer places an order through at least one transaction approach.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said instructions for capturing a license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle and a facial image with respect to a customer in order to obtain license plate information and facial information, further comprises:

instructions for capturing said license plate image with respect to said customer vehicle and said facial image with respect to said customer utilizing an image-capturing unit.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein said instructions are further configured for performing a license plate recognition operation as said customer vehicle enters a lot in order to thereafter generate said unique customer identifier based on said license plate information.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

tracking said customer from said vehicle to a store entry in order to thereafter obtain a facial image of said customer upon entry to said store; and

associating said facial image with said unique customer identifier and adding said facial image to a queue of said customer waiting to place an order.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

acquiring an image of said customer before said customer places said order if said customer is approaching a cash register and matching said facial image against said facial image of said customer at entry;

associating said order information with said customer history data identified from said license plate information and removing said facial image of said customer at entry from a queue if a high confidence match is found; and

purging said facial image of said customer at entry from a queue that is older than a time period and storing said order information and said facial image for manual review if a high confidence match is not found.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein said instructions are further configured for obtaining said facial image at entry and said facial image at checkout on a similar day with a similar lighting and attire and a forward facing pose.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein said instructions are further configured tuning a parameter of said facial recognition to bias towards a lower yield and a high accuracy result. 20, A processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a process to perform a process to track customer history data, said code comprising code to:

capture a license plate image with respect to a customer vehicle and a facial image with respect to a customer in order to obtain license plate information and facial information; and

apply said license plate information in association with said facial information as a unique customer identifier with respect to a customer history data stored in a database, if said customer places an order through at least one transaction approach.